High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! A stupa is a mound-like structure containing Buddhist relics, once thought to be places of Buddhist worship, typically the remains of a Buddha or saint. After "stupa," "chorten" is the most commonly-encountered English term. The term "reliquary" is sometimes used, after a Roman Catholic functional equivalent. Stupas are an ancient form of mandala. The stupa is the latest Buddhist religious monument and was originally only a simple mound of mud or clay to cover supposed relics of the Buddha. After the parinirvana of the Buddha, his remains were cremated and the ashes divided and buried under eight stupas with two further stupas encasing the urn and the embers.